Bill Reynolds: No easy answers in Remy case

Wednesday

May 28, 2014 at 5:01 PM

Three mini-columns for the price of one…JERRY REMY Sports columnists are supposed to have an opinion on everything. Sorry. This time I don’t.Not really.In a perfect world, the father shouldn’t have to...

Three mini-columns for the price of one…

JERRY REMY

Sports columnists are supposed to have an opinion on everything.

Sorry.

This time I don’t.

Not really.

In a perfect world, the father shouldn’t have to pay for the sins of the son, but this is far from a perfect world. Nor is it some simple sports argument, where even if you are on the wrong side of it it’s still just fun and games and who even remembers it the next day?

This is Jared Remy, son of famed Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy. And Tuesday he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for fatally stabbing his girlfriend Jennifer Martel and was sentenced to life in prison, the symbolic end to a high-profile case that’s gone on now for too long now.

So what is Jerry Remy supposed to do?

Is he supposed to keep being the “Rem Dog,” cracking wise in the broadcast booth with Don Orsillo, as if nothing ever happened? Or should he walk away, the public acknowledgment that his very presence is now like the elephant in the room, a constant reminder of this well-publicized tragedy?

You tell me.

There’s no easy answer here.

Back at the start of the season, my knee-jerk response was that if you thought it was inappropriate for Remy to do the games, then simply turn the sound down on your TV. Now it seems more complicated than that, both for Remy and those who watch him. Last year, he took the rest of the year off after the story broke.

An informal poll on WEEI radio Tuesday afternoon had it fairly even on what Remy should do, with half thinking he should keep doing the games, and half thinking he should stop. No big surprise. Will time change this? Probably. Time changes everything, and this heinous crime now figures to start creeping out of the news and into the shadows, as there will be no trial, no real reason to keep the story alive.

But can Remy keep being the “Rem Dog,” keep the illusion going that all is right in his world?

Does he even want to?

One thing’s for sure. We will never look at Jerry Remy the same way again, fair or not.

TOM BRADY

It’s not all the time we get any real glimpse behind the velvet ropes and into Tom Brady’s head, even though he’s been here in New England for 14 years now.

But we did recently.

And the message?

Brady plans on being around football for a long time.

In other words, don’t expect to see him sitting on some Brazilian beach, or spending his life at fashion shoots. In his heart of hearts, he’s a football player and he always has been. And I suspect he will play for as long as he can.

“What’ll I do when I’m done playing?” he said to Peter King on MMQB.com. “I don’t know, but I know it won’t be nearly as fun. I can tell you neither me nor Peyton [Manning] will probably be very far from the game of football when we’re done.”

Or once a football player, always a football player.

The celebrity is just frosting.

KEVIN DURANT

Most award acceptance speeches come direct from Central Casting, thank a few people, smile for the camera, over and out.

Then there was Kevin Durant’s after winning the NBA’s MVP Award.

It was heartfelt. It was emotional. It was one for the ages.

He gave it with the entire Oklahoma City Thunder team sitting behind him, and in many ways it was the story of a poor black kid who grew up outside of Washington, D.C., to a single mother — the same kid who has grown up to be one of the most celebrated basketball players in the world. And if on the surface it might seem like the new NBA stereotype, Durant’s awareness makes it so much more than that.

“I never thought I’d make it to college, never mind the NBA,” he said.

He paused a beat.

“I had so much help,” he said. “So many people believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

That was the key quote in Durant’s speech.

For it spoke of the anonymity of his journey to the lessons he learned along the way. Behind him was his entire team and he made a point of thanking every one of them, for either helping him emotionally, or doing something to help make him a better player, and a better person. And he said this all with tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice.

He also said he isn’t always the best leader, showing both vulnerability and the ability to admit his failures.

Most of all, be came across as appreciative of what the people in his life have done for him, and his awareness that he wouldn’t be where he is today if not for them. In short, Kevin Durant took the kind of speech that most players do almost by the numbers, and turned it into something memorable, something to touch your heart.